WASHINGTON - The Women's March on Washington has been forced to re-route due a much larger than expected turnout. A sea of pink hats stretches in all directions from the stage at the intersection of Third Street and Independence Avenue - not far from the U.S. Capitol - where a rally is ending. Crowds are packed shoulder to shoulder all along the intended parade route, forcing organizers to ask people to follow an alternate route.
We are marching! We are marching straight ahead toward the Washington monument to the ellipse!
This is massive.
Chorus of "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land" breaks out at
Organizers said they were expecting a half-million people to participate in the march, which will end at the White House.
Larger than expected crowds were reported in other cities as well.
In Chicago, a formal march was called off after 150,000 people turned out, seven times more than expected.
In Los Angeles, subway trains were packed to capacity with demonstrators heading for the protest site at the city’s downtown Pershing Square, according to the . The newspaper quoted one woman as saying she waited almost an hour before being able to squeeze onto a train.
In New York, NBC News said a crowd of 60,000 and growing was flooding the upscale Fifth Avenue shopping district shortly after noon.
Police in St. Paul, Minnesota, estimated the crowd there between 45,000 and 60,000, according to that city’s newspaper, while a CBS News affiliate in Boston reported that “tens of thousands” of people were descending on the central Boston Common for a rally there as of midday.
An estimated 10,000 people turned out in Atlanta, according to reporters for the , while the website Denverite said the crowd in Denver, Colorado, took up a city block.
People chanting: "Love not hate, makes America great."
A Thursday evening anti-Trump rally outside the new president’s eponymous Trump Tower in New York City, which featured some of the same speakers as the Washington rally, drew an estimated 25,000 people, according to the website.
Looking at the large crowd in D.C. Saturday, filmmaker Michael Moore said that whatever the march was intended to accomplish, "we've already accomplished it."
"Sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are," feminist icon Gloria Steinem told the crowd. "Sometimes pressing 'send' is not enough."
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"We are America," Latina actress America Ferrera declared earlier in the rally. "We will not go from a nation of immigrants to a nation of ignorance."
The march comes a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump and is intended to protest the new president's policies and advocate for women's rights.
"I want to be able to support you," movie star Scarlett Johansson said, "but first, I ask that you support me" and all women.
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Thanks for standing, speaking & marching for our values . Important as ever. I truly believe we%27re always Stronger Together.
Congratulations to the women marching today. We must go forward to ensure full reproductive justice for all women.
前国务卿变身为示威者。刚卸任的前美国国务卿克里 和他的忠狗-班本(Ben)-加入#womensmarch 行列。
In many cases, it took ingenuity to get to the march. City buses and subway trains were clogged and in some cases, subway stops had to be closed.
By 11 a.m., 275,000 people had taken the subway. At the same time on inauguration day, ridership was 193,000. Washington officials said 1,800 buses from outside had registered to park in the city Saturday, which could mean nearly 100,000 people came into the city just by bus.
In his inaugural speech Friday, Trump pledged to lead a government that represented the wishes of all Americans.
“We are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people,” he said, adding that the day “belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country.”
The protesters who gathered for Saturday’s march, however, were not persuaded.
Marching with SO many sisters today but my heart is most proud to march with my blood sister,…
The Bize Mamas of Kansas City, Missouri, couldn’t all attend. So they sent two members to the march.